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Cooking Up a Vegan Storm

I’m really enjoying my new cookbook “Isa Does It“ by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I’ve only had it for two weeks with available time to cook and have made seven things. (OK, it’s eight now, didn’t get this post done before I had to go out of town). For me, that’s a ton. It has helped that my boys’ sports seasons ended. And my exercise routine has become a bit more neglected. I have not had any failures or food that I didn’t want the leftovers from…just filling and tasty dishes.

For me, Isa Does It is working well because it utilizes much of what I have stocked and have been using increasingly over the last few years. Examples are: veggie broth, garlic, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, lentils, rice, and familiar dried spices, but nothing too outlandish. Isa acknowledges (where did I read that?) that moving from NYC to Omaha has helped her realize some of her past recipes had ingredients that were hard to find for many folks.

Here are a few pictures (mine, not hers-just an aside, the book has gorgeous photography):

Curried Peanut Sauce-in Isa Does It. In the book, the sauce is paired with tofu and kale over rice, but I’d bet it’s good on anything! I used it as a sauce on leftover olive-lentil burgers and with bread dipped into it.

Pizza Bowl from Isa Does It. I had to literally toss it in the bowl to eat it before I had to run out the door, so the photo suffered. Sunflower seeds substituted in for the cashews. This recipe taught me how quickly curly kale can be sautéed in a pan-one full bunch in about 5 minutes. I loved this, especially with the kalamata olives and a little crushed red pepper on top. The pizza taste does come through with the complex flavor of the creamy, kind of cheesy, and tomato and roasted red pepper flavored sauce. It’s hard to describe, really.

I’m not sure what else I can say. I’m a groveling fan of hers, if you couldn’t tell already. This book is beautiful, accessible to humbly-skilled cooks, and will be a classic. I’m learning little tricks along the way that will help on nights when I don’t have time for a full blown recipe. Gold for me.

Have you purchased this book or do you plan to? I’d love to hear what others think. You can follow along and see an outrageous amount of cooking from this book at VegCookBook Club too.

I am making more out of Veganomicon over the past 6 months. It seemed more approachable for me once I learned skills from cooking from a range of vegan cookbooks and using her website and her book Vegan Brunch. Yum!

Cadry-so sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I agree, most of the recipes are super reasonable for weeknights! I have enjoyed everything and especially the sauces–I feel like you can just pull out any sauce from these and enjoy it on about anything. I just happened to read some of your blog articles last night and really enjoyed them. The post about desert islands was fun but thoughtful :)

I’m loving Isa Does It too – Easily the best cookbook I purchased this year!

My favorite recipe so far from it has been the Down Home Curry. I can’t wait to try the Pizza Bowl. Mike said he thought it seemed weird to serve ‘Pizza’ toppings over Rice, but i think it’s brilliant!

Sorry for the late reply–you do have to try the pizza bowl…I could eat the entire amount of kale because it tastes so good in there. Even with sunflower seeds vs cashews, it’s one of my faves. You can leave out a few of the steps, too if pressed for time, like the onions and sliced garlic. I craved it on a recent trip out of town as I wasn’t eating enough veggies, and it was my first meal when I got home. I loved that curry too!